How to Make a Solar Hot Air Balloon

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It's easy to make a solar hot air balloon using normal household items. All you need are a few trash bags, tape, and some free time.

Insert the blade of a pair of scissors into one of the folds and cut all the way to the other end. You should be able to spread the bag open into a 3 feet (0.9 m) x 5 feet (1.5 m) sheet of plastic. Repeat this procedure for all 4 bags.

Join 2 bags together with masking tape, along the long (5ft) side of the sheets. You should have a 5x6ft sheet of plastic. Attach another bag to one of the 5 feet (1.5 m) sides, and then the last bag. You should have a long, 12x5ft sheet of plastic.

Use a blow dryer to inflate. The sun will keep the balloon hot and can be flown on any sunny, calm day. A small fan will work, but since this is a small balloon it is hard, especially in wind, to heat up very fast. The balloon should be triangular in shape, or a tetrahedron.

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wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, 22 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. This article has also been viewed 68,456 times.